The Periscope reporter
The leadership of the Joint Health Sector Workers Union JOHESU has revealed that it would shutdown all the hospitals and Covid-19 treatment centres, as a reaction to the machination by the federal ministry of health, to oppress, exploit and shortchange some hospital staff by redefining their status and reinterpreting the Covid-19 hazard and inducement allowance, from 50% to 10% of their basic salaries.
The unfortunate total shutdown option would be applied, if that would be the only listened to language by the federal government through the federal ministry of health.
This was revealed by the JOHESU national chairman Comrade Biobelemoye Josiah
during the JOHESU emergency meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday.
“Some machinations have taken place at the ministry of health to redefine who the health worker is?
“To say that some persons are no longer health workers and so they should only be paid 10% of their basic salary as Covid-19 hazard and inducement allowance is unfortunate and unacceptable.
“Some of these persons that are discriminated, fall seriously into the categories that are even more exposed than some of the professionals that are paid 50%.
“This was made clear by the minister of labour; only to be reinterpreted by the federal ministry of health,” Josiah said.
JOHESU leadership threatened that should the meeting with the officials of the federal ministry of health, fixed for Wednesday, failed to amend the identified anomaly in the Covid-19 hazard allowance, health workers would have no choice than to shutdown the entire health facilities in the country, including Covid-19 treatment centres.
“This is a simple issue. Anybody that loves Nigeria will not want it to fail. However, where the unthinkable happens, we’ll give a very short notice, within the ambit of the law; then we mobilise our people for a total industrial action,” Josiah said.
Already, there have been peaceful protests by JOHESU members in the tertiary hospitals across country, where they present their grievances against the 10% Covid-19 hazard allowance they were paid, instead of 50% of their basic salaries as agreed, before the chief executives, urging them to forward same to the appropriate authority at the ministry of health.
Already, the students through their union and the concerned citizens, have started giving their voices as a show of solidarity to the JOHESU legitimate agitations.